Recently, I was at my girlfriend’s home, and—together with her relatives—we were watching a special on television about the Pope's visit to our city. Someone noticed the face of a person of color located on the top left corner of the shield on the Pope’s Coat of Arms, and inquired as to what it was. A discussion started about why a black person's face was there, and what kind of message "His Holiness" might be trying to send to the Catholic world and to the world as a whole.

For close to 800 years, each Pope has had his own personal coat of arms that serves as a symbol of his papacy. Before being elected in 2005, the current Pope was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Is Benedict’s Coat of Arms a reflection of Ratzinger’s personality and life experiences? To answer that question, a quick review of history is in order.

Ratzinger’s experiences as a child in Nazi Germany often constituted a life of despair. In 1941, he became a member of the Hitler Youth, which Hitler demanded of all German boys once they turned 14. Ratzinger exited the Hitler youth by declaring his intention to become a priest. During this same year, as a result of Adolf Hitler’s evil eugenics campaign, Joseph Ratzinger's cousin-- who was also 14 years old—was killed by Hitler's Nazi regime because he had down-syndrome. Later, Ratzinger was drafted into the Nazi Air Force, but he has said he never fired a weapon.

In 1944, Ratzinger witnessed Jews being transported to death camps. He deserted the Nazi military in 1945.

In 2005, Ratzinger’s biographer, John Allen, told the Times of London: “Ratzinger was only briefly a member of the Hitler Youth and not an enthusiastic one.” Still, there is controversy over whether Ratzinger could have done more to resist the Nazis, and to refuse membership in the Hitler Youth and then the Nazi Army .

So, what does this have to do with the face of a person of color on the Pope’s Coat of arms? Well, Hitler not only wanted to exterminate the Jewish population, but also Blacks, Hispanics, East Indians, Asians and everyone else who was not blond and blue-eyed. In Hitler's wicked reality, anyone who wasn't Aryan was thought to have been inferior. And, during the psychological struggle that Pope Benedict XVI was going through to reject Hitler's philosophy— which went against his Catholic upbringing and his family ethics— a lot of other things were going on around the world which disproved Hitler’s nonsense and, no doubt, impressed upon the Pope's young innocence at that time.

At the age of 9, Ratzinger probably witnessed the African-American track star Jesse Owens beat the Germans at track and field in the 1936 Olympics in front of, and to the dismay of, a red- faced Hitler. And in 1938, at the age of 11, Ratzinger must've read or heard that Joe Louis knocked out the German Max Schmeling in only two minutes and four seconds, again dispelling Hitler's propaganda of a superior "Aryan" race.

All this history raises some interesting questions: Did Pope Benedict XVI feel some unwarranted guilt by association during his innocent youth under Hitler's Nazi regime? Is this why he used the face of a person of color on his Papal coat of arms? Is it to let the world know that his term as Pope will be one that will truly embrace all, no matter their race or lot in life?

These issues seem worthy of further exploration.